THE GOD OF JACOB IS OUR REFUGE

Here is the key to David’s triumphs. He exclaims, “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the Lord our God”, v. 7. He had learned to trust in the Lord with all his heart and not to lean on his own understanding. So he faced the lion and the bear in his youth, and so he overcame the giant Goliath of Gath. He doubtless practised patiently with his sling, but in each case he trusted in the Almighty. Everything ultimately depends on what God is. His name declares His character. To call Him “the God of Jacob” is to recall God’s amazing grace and patience with the man who lied to his father Isaac and cheated his brother Esau. He is the God of all grace; He deals as patiently with us today as He did with Jacob.

When the stripling shepherd boy faced Goliath the giant, he said, “Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied”, 1 Sam. 17. 45. David’s trust was in the Eternal, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the Lord (this word in capitals in the A.V. means “the Eternal”, as some French versions translate the title, the self-existing, Jehovah, unchanging), This made all the difference.

David had learned, like Daniel, that ultimately the most High does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, Dan. 4. 35. Today we wrestle not against flesh and blood, and we seek to live peaceably with all men. Yet we may, like Paul the apostle, be “troubled on every side”, with fightings without, and fears within, 2 Cor. 7. 5. The world system characterized by “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life”, 1 John 2. 16, may impress us temporarily. But our Lord Jesus says, “Let not your heart be troubled … In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world”, John 14. 27; 16. 33.

“Ye believe in God, believe also in me”, John 14. 1.